LOOK WHO’S IN THE HUNTRumors are swirling that ex-sheriff’s Lieutenant Bill Hunt is contemplating a campaign against Hutchens for the June 2010 election. Now a private investigator, Hunt—who suffered apparent job retaliation by then-Sheriff Mike Carona after challenging him in the 2006 election—has publicly blasted Hutchens’ performance as sheriff during recent months. He has even met several times with Carona’s former political adviser, Mike Schroeder, a man who has criticized Hunt in the past and who has been touting the potential candidacy of Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters. Neither Hunt nor Schroeder, who detests Hutchens and is married to Susan Kang Schroeder, would speak on the record. But Hunt has political currency. Though he has struggled to raise campaign funds in the past, at least three characteristics set him apart from Hutchens and Walters: He says he’s always been a Republican; he enjoys loyal support in the deputies’ union; and, to the vocal local Second Amendment crowd’s delight, he advocates a return to the Carona-era liberal concealed-weapons-permit policy. If Hunt can get the deputies’ union endorsement, look for him to run.

WHEN IN DOUBT, SPEND AND THEN BORROWDo yourself and your neighbors a favor: Vote no on all of the May 18 state ballot propositions. The measures are a hodgepodge of illogic and outright lies. If you doubt me, read the text of the arguments. (Take three Excedrin first.) Does anyone, besides actor/Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger or the Democratic legislature, really believe passage of the government-sponsored propositions will save taxpayer money by massively increasing our multibillion-dollar debt to Wall Street investment firms?

BEACH READINGLooking for a summer 2009 beach book? Go no further than Zachary Mexico’s new paperback, China Underground. Sorry, Mao. There’s no stale Ministry of Propaganda crap here. Indeed, Mexico—a NYC musician—shares 16 well-written stories about the youthful, nonconformist characters he met, befriended and partied with in clubs all over China.